Remembrance
by TrappedInWonderland
Summary: Every tradition has a reason, these are the stories of those reasons. A series of oneshots taking place in the Warcraft universe. Rated for later chapters, but nothing more than language.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello and welcome to a short series of one-shots that I decided to write for a group of WoW characters that I made up. This was actually a challenge given to me by my dad. He told me to write some short stories for him and I did. After a couple were done I decided that it would be fun to post them on frist one up is Ryluh, a clumsy priestess who is always getting lost.  
(This one is much shorter than the others, but mainly because it was the first one I wrote)**

**So please, read, enjoy, and perhaps review! :)**

**~Trapped In Wonderland**

**Disclaimer: I don't own World of Warcraft, but I do take credit for Ryluh.  
**

* * *

Ryluh was lost. Completely and hopelessly lost. She was also cold which was not helping her dilemma, but she did manage to pick out the one bright side.

" At least," she thought, "I am not in denial, I admitted to myself that I was lost so it can only get better."

This comforted her some, but not very much, as she trudged through the snow. Suddenly a large castle loomed out of the perpetual white wasteland and she began to have some hope. When she arrived at it's massive doors she struggled to get at least one open. When her struggle ended she fell, but she quickly got back on her feet hoping that no one had witnessed her small tumble.

She needn't have worried though, for although large, the castle was completely empty and it was still terribly cold. She sighed and began to walk down the long corridor, hoping to at least find a room that she could hole up in until the snow storm had passed. While she walked she observed that whoever had inhabited the castle had very tacky tastes when it came to home décor. All around her were skulls and cobwebs, dark drapes, and a dark carpet. She sniffed in disapproval and continued on.

Just as she was beginning to tire of her endless search she saw a warm glow coming from one of the rooms ahead. As she moved closer she observed that the door was slightly cracked and a low deep voice was slipping through it.

"What do you mean cut down!" the voice growled.

Ryluh shuddered, something deep within her telling her to get away, but this could be her only chance to rejoin her group. She glided down the hallway and softly knocked on the door. The voice cut off abruptly and bid her to enter. She slipped past the door and walked into the room boldly, gathering all of her courage. As she stepped inside the slightly colder room, a sense of deja vu swept over her. She swore she knew the man sitting on the icy throne a few paces in front of her.

"Oh great," she thought glancing around the room once, "More tacky decorations."

"Excuse me sir? I was just wondering if you could point me to the nearest town? I got lost in the storm and separated from my group." she explained out loud.

He looked shocked, his blue eyes slightly wide and his mouth hanging slightly ajar. He was very pale, probably sickly she noted, and he wore armor.

"Must be a very paranoid man." Ryluh mused to herself as she waited for an answer.

He finally pointed to the east. That was all, just a point.

"How rude!" Ryluh seethed to herself and with a brisk thank you she stormed out of the castle and back into the snow, but not before filching a cloak or two that she stumbled upon, convincing herself that she did so out of necessity rather than just spite. She was a priest, after all, and she had an image to uphold.

As the young Priest left, the great and terrible Arthas began to gather his wits. He noticed his finger pointing and he looked at it, as a parent would a disobedient child. He slowly let his hand drop and turned to his shocked minion.

"This never happened." was all the Lich King said.

* * *

**Thanks again for reading and I hope you enjoyed it! :)**


	2. The Month of May

**Hello! Welcome to the second installment in this series! This time around the story is about an odd undead girl named May, and a very important moment in her one was very fun and it just kind of wrote itself. It's my favorite of the two so far.  
**

**So please, read, enjoy, and perhaps review. **

**~Trapped In Wonderland**

**Disclaimer: I don't own World of Warcraft, but I will take credit for May and anyone else that you don't recognize.  
**

* * *

May was a small girl, bony and questioningly thin, but that was to be expected. She was dead after all. Or rather, undead.

She wandered the roads alone, not speaking to any passing travelers or even bothering to glance at them, they wouldn't talk to her anyway. Even if she looked more like a normal human than most of her kind, her gray skin and yellow eyes gave her away. She was far more interested in the scenery anyway. It had been a very long time since she had learned to appreciate the beauty of spring, that event was almost a hundred or so years ago.

Although many years had passed, she still remembered the day clearly.

It had been sometime in the spring, warm and sunny. She had been but a child, she was eight or so, and very small for her age. The other children had been picking on her because of it. She was hiding in a clearing, not to deep into the forest but deep enough, and she was sobbing quietly to herself.

"It's always May is a scrawny good-for-nothing, or May will never be anything!" she thought to herself angrily.

She pulled her knees tighter to her chest and laid her head on them. Why was it always her? Why couldn't the little hooligans find someone else to terrorize. She had done nothing to them, in fact, she had always been very kind to everyone.

"I hate being May. It's a horrible and useless existence." she said aloud, though she was with no one.

"What's wrong with being May? I think it's a lovely month to be named after." A smooth male voice said.

She gasped, and her eyes darted around her clearing. "Who's there? Show yourself or I'll scream!"

"Woah there! I'm not going to hurt you." a man said coming out of the forest.

He was tall and wore very travel weary clothing. Though his body also looked weary from travel his eyes shown brightly.

"Who are you?" May asked, more out of curiosity this time.

"Just an ordinary traveler." he answered with a warming smile.

"With some odd companions." a small but rough voice squeaked.

"Quiet Pipbus!" the man almost growled.

"Excuse me! You should have told me you were planning on pretending I don't exist!" a small Imp complained, throwing himself on the mans shoulder in mock exasperation.

May gasped again her eyes wide with wonder, "You're a warlock aren't you?"

"Unfortunately." he said slightly apologetically.

"What's that supposed to mean!" the Imp, Pipbus, demanded angrily, tugging sharply on his sandy colored hair.

"That you are a nuisance." he stated wincing.

May let out a small giggle.

"Now tell me May, why are you so blue?" he asked walking over to her.

He sat next to her under the tree and she sighed.

"The other children in the village…they always pick on me and I don't know why. I'm sure it's because I'm May. If I was someone else they would leave me alone and find some other poor May." she explained, rather satisfied with her theory.

"Hmm. That is something to be blue about but…" he trailed off.

"But what?" she asked curious.

"I happen to like May, a lot." he said with a small smile.

"Why would you like May?" she demanded, "It's horrible."

"Well…for one thing, May always produces…" he paused for suspense.

"Go on!" she urged quietly excited.

He reached in front of them and plucked a single daffodil, they were everywhere in the blooming clearing. He surveyed it once then he tucked it behind her ear gently, and leaned back. It was very bright against her black hair and she reached up and touched it softly in wonder.

"May always brings the most beautiful flowers and the world is so alive with color and beauty it makes me want to sing. And I'll tell you a secret." he said beckoning her closer and looking around for other people.

"I am a very, very bad singer." he whispered loudly to her.

"You got that right." Pipbus smirked, still on his shoulder but with his head leaning on his palm instead of his other outrageous pose.

May laughed again and looked up at the traveler.

"Thank you, sir. You are very kind." she said with a true smile, whose whereabouts had been unknown for a very long time.

"You are very welcome, May."

They both stood and with a wave they departed.

May had never forgotten the strange traveler, though she never met him again, even after becoming a warlock herself. No, she had never again met the man who had given her the courage to stand up to her bullies, but ever since she plucked the first daffodil she came across and stuck it in her hair.


	3. The Memorial

**This is the longest one so far, but it slightly has to be. This one-shot revolves around Kell, a troll hunter who has very bad luck.**

**So please, read, enjoy, and perhaps review!  
**

**~Trapped In Wonderland**

**Disclaimer: I don't own World of Warcraft, but I will take credit for the characters Kell and anyone else you don't recognize.  
**

* * *

Kell was a very lazy Troll and he wouldn't even pretend he wasn't. It was to much effort to lie that much. He didn't like work of any kind, which is one of the reasons he became a hunter. He made his pet do all of his work for him. His pet, of course, objected to this by biting him or trying to maul him when he really got demanding, but Kell was still lazy and his pet felt a little obligated to look after the fool. He didn't want Kell to get killed by his own faults, he actually cared for the Troll, but he would never admit that to anyone.

It was a hot day when "The Incident", as it would come to be known, happened. They were walking down the Gold Road, on their way to the crossroads when a small something stumbled out of the brush. Whatever it was frightened Kell and Fluffy-kins (Or whatever the pets name was at the moment, it was always changing.) very badly and Kell fumbled for his bow as Fluffy-kins struggled to remember what he should do in a fight. Kell ended up yanking his bow in such a way, that the bow string was caught on the back of his head. They were very badly prepared for ambushes. Their fear subsided when they realized that the small something was actually a small child. A small night elf child. She was whimpering and looking up at Kell with fear in her big silver eyes, her medium length sea green hair was messy and falling into her face.

"What the hell are you doin out here girl?" he asked her, slipping into her language easily.

"M-my m-mommy and my d-daddy and I w-were going t-to see a f-friend of theirs." she managed to say between hiccups.

Kell nodded, urging her to go on.

"T-these men c-came from n-nowhere and they k-kil-" she burst into sobs before she could finish her sentence, but Kell already knew what had happened.

He put his bow away and kneeled down so that he was eye to eye with her. He looked at her for a long while. When she was quieting down he slowly reached out and patted her head gently.

"It's gonna be alright, mon. I'll take care of ya. We'll get you home." he said jerking a thumb towards his pet who growled in agreement.

She wiped her eyes and tried to smile, "Thanks mister."

That was the beginning of Kell's worst nightmare.

* * *

The girl he had found was named Iylia, she couldn't tell him much about her parents without bursting into tears, so her name was the most he knew. His plan was simple, get the kid out of the Barrens, take said kid to Darkshore, use kid as Elvin shield during negotiations with sentinels or drop kid off and let kid walk to Auberdine while fighting off every monster that saw her as a quick snack. Yep, overly complicated, but he didn't have many options. That was the plan until he discovered that they were being followed.

"Things can never be easy." he sighed, dragging a hand over his face.

"Kell? What's wrong?" Iylia asked looking at him curiously.

"Nothing child, nothing at all." he said standing and hoisting her on to his mount.

"I have a name. And it isn't child." she huffed.

"Do ya now?" he asked.

"Yes. I already told you it's Iylia. Iy-li-a!" she said in a tone that implied she would have stamped her foot, if she had been on the ground.

Kell chuckled quietly, the girl had spunk and she took no nonsense. He thought about how broken she had seemed when he had first found her as the Barren's monotonous landscape flew by. They rode for an hour or two when his instincts began to warn him that something was really wrong. The ones following them just gave him a bad vibe. A really bad vibe. He didn't slow but he sent FooFoo to check it out. The Echeyakee growled and rolled it's eyes at the ridiculous name change but complied with his partner's order.

"Hey gir- I mean Iylia," he corrected as she turned to glare at him, "Can you tell me who your parents were? Or what they did? It may be important."

It was several moments before she answered, "Mommy was a great warrior, she was a Warden. Daddy was a Druid."

A Warden and a Druid. The girl didn't seem to know it but her parents were probably two of the most powerful Night Elves in Darnassus. Or they had been. Kell's thoughts began to fly as he began to piece together his information. The girl's parents had been murdered, which said something about their murderer's power. To be able to take an Arch Mage and a Warden when they were together and protecting something precious…He dug his heels into his mount's flanks and urged it faster. He did not want to be on the open Barrens at night with a strange and powerful enemy still around and, gods forbid, following them.

Kell was torn from his thoughts as FooFoo returned. The large cat bounden beside them effortlessly, but he had a shallow cut on his left front leg. Kell's eyes narrowed as he zeroed in on the wound but his pet once again demanded his attention. Over the years the two had formed a very deep bond and had learned to understand each other's emotions as well as their own. What Kell saw in his partner's eyes was a deep fear and anxiety, which meant he had to get the child as far away from the pursuer as possible, or she would soon be with her parents.

That was his original plan, until he realized he couldn't out run their tracker. His mount was tired, it hadn't run so fast and far, with more than one passenger in a very long time. The raptor's strength was giving out and Kell sadly slowed him. He dismounted and pulled his quiver onto his back and slung his rifle on his shoulder.

"Kell? Where are you going?" Iylia asked her voice laced with fear.

"Don't worry little one. I'm only goin for a little hunt." he answered patting her head.

She smiled a little at him but it looked as though she had more to say. He waited but was surprised when she threw herself on him.

"Come back 'kay?" she murmured into his long coat.

"I promise." he swore and turned to his pet, "Lets go, we have a magnificent prey tonight."

The two walked off into the horizon and Iylia sat with the great raptor as she waited. She had never before prayed so hard to Elune for someone to return to her safely.

* * *

Kell watched silently from his perch in a large tree, close to the road, and waited for his prey to appear. He was very patient, but he had had a lot of practice. The hunt, he mused, was the only time he wasn't lazy. Especially a good hunt, the kind that got his heart pounding and his blood fired up. Not this time though. He had spent many days with that girl, and he wouldn't let his hard work be wasted. No, tonight he was stone his face was set in a mask of death. Kell was death to whoever wished harm on that helpless creature tonight.

He perked up as he heard an animal making it's way to him and he silently drew an arrow. He was aimed, right at his targets vital area and let his mana surge into his arrow as Cuddle-kins leaped for the red lynx. The two cats battled ferociously with each other and there was no mistaking it, this was his prey. Kell used almost every spell in the book; arcane shots, explosive shots, and finally a devastating multi-shot. His target fell to the ground with a thump, arrows sticking out of random appendages. Kell leaped down from his tree silently and placed his foot heavily on the Blood Elf's chest, letting some of his wait rest on the man.

"Don't try and play dead with me boy!" Kell snarled pointing his gun directly into the man's disgustingly beautiful face.

"I-I" the pathetic creature cowered and struggled to breath under his mighty foot.

"You are much to clumsy to be able to handle a Warden, let alone with a Druid for back up. Who helped you?" Kell demanded.

"No one…" the man wheezed.

"You're lying, that's not very intelligent." Kell said with a cruel grin and shifting more of his wait onto the gasping Blood Elf.

"I- she was a-a r-rouge!" he managed.

"So you helped slit their throats while sleeping," Kell growled looking straight into his green eyes, "You disgust me."

A single shot rang out into the night as Cuddle-kins rejoined his master. His white fur was tinged a slight red, but he was not wounded, save for the shallow cut on his leg.

"Well Aslan, looks like we have more than one snake to sniff out." Kell said patting his large pet's shoulder.

The lion growled his acknowledgement.

"We better get goin." Kell sighed and began to walk away from the Blood Elf's body.

They were almost back to where they had left the girl and Kell was beginning to feel as though he hadn't wasted his time trying to get her home. Sure it had been a pain in the ass but he hadn't had such fun in decades.

His thoughts of fun fled as he took in the scene before him. A Blood Elf woman was holding the struggling Iylia with her arms held behind her back. A wicked looking knife was pointed deftly at the child's neck.

"One more step Troll and she dies." the Rouge hissed.

Kell's eyes went from shocked to a cold calculating fury.\"Now you are going to let me leave. You will not follow me. You won't track me down. I am going to get away. If I don't she dies." the Blood Elf instructed.

Kell moved forward a step.

"Don't come any closer." The rouge was becoming desperate and her eyes were wild.

Kell took another step.

"I will kill her!" she shrieked.

"Biggest mistake you'll ever make." Kell said quietly, deadly.

The woman hadn't noticed the large lion moving into position and, as the beast leaped, she freed the child in her attempt to get away from the flashing claws. Kell's arrow flew and struck true, burying itself into the woman's heart. Iylia's eyes were wide as she watched and she stood there, shocked for a few moments. She snapped out of it though, and shook herself. Kell waited, expecting her to cry or scream.

"Kell!" she shrieked launching herself at him and clinging tightly.

Surprised the hunter awkwardly patted her back.

"You came back." she stated, relief and happiness apparent in her tear choked voice.

"I promised ya didn't I?" he replied.

* * *

It was another long week until they entered Darkshore and Kell knew it was time to say goodbye. If he entered Auberdine he would be attacked and he just didn't feel like dealing with the sentinels. He stopped his mount and helped the small child down.

"Well after a very long time, our journey together comes to an end." Kell started studying her.

"I guess…"

"You guess? Don't you know, mon?" Kell asked feigning shock.

He managed to get a small sad smile with that one. She looked at him than away and mumbled something inaudible.

"What was that?" he asked stooping down.

She hugged his neck tightly and whispered, "I'll miss you Kell."

His eyes widened, then softened, "I'll miss you, too, mon."

He hugged her small form tightly and briefly. He stood and looked at her with a critical eye.

"What is it Kell?" she asked.

"Something's missing…" he said.

She gave herself a once over and looked back at him as if he'd lost his mind.

"Aha! That's it!" he exclaimed snapping his fingers.

She watched as he removed his black leather sheriff hat and plopped it one her head.

"There we go." he approved.

She hugged him once more, "I'll never forget you Kell. When I grow up I wanna be just like you."

When he stood this time he tried to discreetly wipe his eyes but his small companion noticed.

"Kell, are you… are you crying?" she asked incredulously.

"I don know what you're talkin bout, mon." he snapped.

After Iylia had said goodbye to FooFoo- Cuddly-kins -Aslan -Fluffy-kins and Raptor (Kell wasn't the most imaginative) she began her short walk to Auberdine. Kell kept a close and watchful eye out for her the entire way.

* * *

After joining Ryluh and her brother, Kaeldar's, group, Kell hadn't asked for much. It surprised them all when he insisted that they go to the Barrens for no particular reason.

"Kell, is whatever you're doing extremely important? The Barrens are practically on the other side of the world." Ryluh asked, slightly shocked at his blunt request.

"Yes, it is extremely important Ry. I have to be there." he said, eyes pleading her to understand.

She agreed and they were soon off to the Barrens. Kell led them down the Gold Road confidently to a spot just a few miles away from the Crossroads. He stopped as they approached a tall figure next to a small memorial of some sort, they wore a black sheriff's hat and a ghost cat was sitting next to them obediently. They turned and the tell-tale silver eyes of Night Elf shone brightly. Kell dismounted, his black trench coat rustling and adjusted his own sheriff's hat.

"Wait here." he told his group.

He turned and walked towards the Night Elf woman, who smiled at his approach. Fuzzy-lumpkins ran out ahead of him and excitedly greeted the other hunter as the party curiously watched.

"My bets are totally on illegitimate child." May said suddenly.

"No way," Norana, an amorist Blood Elf rouge, snorted, "Something that pretty definitely can't come from Kell. I love him but, you've seen him."

Meanwhile the Troll and Night Elf had begun talking quietly to each other.

"How've you been Kell?" the girl asked tucking her sea green hair behind her ear.

"Fine, made some new friends." he said nodding his head in the direction Ryluh and the others.

"That's wonderful…I'm glad you made it this year Kell. They…I'm sure they love your company." she said sniffing a little as she gestured to the small memorial they had made to her parents, there was a much larger one in Darnassus but this one they could share together and that was what really mattered.

"I make it every year, mon." the Troll chuckled patting her head.

'After all these years and you still pat my head like a child." she mused.

"You're still my little one, Iylia. And you always will be." he said quietly.

After that they didn't speak, they just enjoyed each others company like every year, and would for many years to come.

**.**

**.**

**.**

_**Fin**_

_**

* * *

**_**This one was by far my most favorite to write! I just love Kell and I can't wait to write about him again. This story was actually inspired by one of the stories in the Warcraft Legends manga. I always like the story and thought that it would be suitable for Kell to under-go something similar to it.**

**I hope you liked it!  
**


End file.
